Publication of Note | June 2020
Alonzo H. Quint, “The Potomac and the Rapidan. Army Notes from the Failure at Winchester to the Re-enforcement of Rosecrancs.” (Boston: Crosby & Nichols, 1864).
Throughout 2020 the “Publication of Note” portion of the newsletter will highlight some of our director’s favorite regimental histories or collections of published primary sources.
While the Civil War still raged in 1864, the conflict’s bloodiest year, the Boston publishing house of Crosby and Nichols released Alonzo Quint’s reminiscences of the conflict’s first two years. As chaplain of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, a regiment which spent the first year of its existence in the Shenandoah Valley, Quint’s reminiscences, which stemmed from articles he wrote to the Congregationalist newspaper, are of particular value to those interested in the Civil War’s early course in the Shenandoah.
In addition to chronicling the movements and actions in which the 2nd Massachusetts took part, Quint offers tremendous insight into the Valley’s diverse population. Individuals interested in how Union soldiers perceived the Valley’s Confederate civilians will find Quint’s descriptions colorful and unvarnished. For example, in describing Winchester’s Confederates, Quint wrote that they were the “villainous spawn of hell.” Readers will also find Quint’s observations about life for African Americans in the Valley extremely useful. Quint not only details the manner in which enslaved people sought refuge with Union forces during the conflict’s first year in the Shenandoah, but also notes how those interactions changed the attitudes of those who fought for the Union, including him, toward slavery. While Quint freely admitted that at the war’s outset he did not fancy himself an abolitionist or believe that war should be waged to eradicate slavery, the interactions he had with enslaved people in the Valley altered his mood significantly.
While Quint’s volume follows the regiment’s activities beyond the Valley, including its movements in Tennessee in 1863, those interested in the conflict in the Shenandoah Valley will find Quint’s “The Potomac and the Rapidan” a valuable source in understanding the complexities of the conflict’s first year in the Shenandoah Valley.
